Maybe I'm looking at this series too simply, but the way I see it is if the Heat can stop Nowitzki then they can stop the Mavs. If Dirk plays bad then the Mavs are going down.
The Heat have the Mavs outmatched in every position (including bench) except for PF...

Mavs have the best coach in the league who is destined to be the best coach in the history of the game. If anybody can figure shaq out, it will be avery (though he has less tools to work with than SAS, PHO, and Detroit) The mavs have less firepower than the heat but they have less firepower than a lot of teams they defeated. The heat have the most talented squad in the league but still only won 52 games. If they click on all cylinders, and dallas starts playing in a funk, Maiami can win but I don't think they can beat any of the top four teams in a league when those teams aren't in a funk. They got lucky with the pistons finally breaking down. I say Mavs in seven, with Dirk cementing his HOF status with a monster series

it's clear that wade couldnt be stopped. shaq was too good for dampier or diop to guard. but no one stopped terry. they jus let him hit those open jumpers and drive to the rim. and if you looked at it, wade and shaq were the only heat players to shoot FT's. 7-19 combined, wade being 6-10 and shaq...well you can do the math.

tHe_dIsEaSe wrote:(though he has less tools to work with than SAS, PHO, and Detroit)

I dunno about this. Diop and Dampier are better tools than anything Phoenix has got. As far as SA & Detroit, I agree (purely because of Duncan and Big Ben). But I dunno about Phoenix having an easier time handling Shaq...

rsxracer wrote:it's clear that wade couldnt be stopped. shaq was too good for dampier or diop to guard. but no one stopped terry. they jus let him hit those open jumpers and drive to the rim. and if you looked at it, wade and shaq were the only heat players to shoot FT's. 7-19 combined, wade being 6-10 and shaq...well you can do the math.

Terry played a hell of a game and really stepped up when the Mavs needed him most, however; depending on Terry to have 30+ ppg this series is not a winning formula.
You got to hand it to the Heat for containing Dirk. If the Heat can play the same way they played game 1 and actually nail their free throws then the Heat are going to come out victorious...

tHe_dIsEaSe wrote:(though he has less tools to work with than SAS, PHO, and Detroit)

I dunno about this. Diop and Dampier are better tools than anything Phoenix has got. As far as SA & Detroit, I agree (purely because of Duncan and Big Ben). But I dunno about Phoenix having an easier time handling Shaq...

The tool phoenix has to stop shaq is running him off the court. He might score 30 points but he would have 30 points scored on him by Diaw and would only be able to keep up with the fast paced game for maybe 30 minutes. Miami would either have to play an extremely slow game (which takes wade, williams, and toine out of their game) or play shaq extremely sparingly.

Big B wrote:Maybe I'm looking at this series too simply, but the way I see it is if the Heat can stop Nowitzki then they can stop the Mavs. If Dirk plays bad then the Mavs are going down.The Heat have the Mavs outmatched in every position (including bench) except for PF...

I'm going to have to beg to differ. I'd take Jackhouse and Howard over Toine and Posey. Posey is better than J-Will and at this point "the glove" is too old to guard harris.